Space Education

May 03, 2010

[Kentucky Space readers, by the end of this week, I'll be blogging exclusively on the Kentucky
Space web site. Please note: If you're taking the blog feed, it has changed. Use this feed URL instead if you consume Kentucky Space in Google Reader or a client like FeedDemon or NetNewsWire.]

Presentations from the CubeSat Developer's Workshop at which Kentucky Space was prominently featured have been made available.

April 26, 2010

Following the successful delivery of the first NanoRacks Platform on Shuttle Discovery earlier this month, the second such unit is manifested aboard Atlantis, designated STS-132, for May.

This photo shows the Astrotech payload processing facility at Port Canaveral, Fla., where workers dressed in "bunny suits" lift a cargo pallet into the Russian-built Mini-Research Module-1. The second platform is stowed in this module for flight.

The NanoRacks Platform powers up to 16 individual "CubeLabs," each of which can host microgravity research experiments. This standard method for doing microgravity research offers many more organizations an opportunity to do repeatable, cost efficient work in the bio-sciences, for example.

With regularly scheduled trips to the station, Kentucky Space is now working with organizations to put their experimental programs on the ISS.

What’s important to understand about this space research is that it isn’t about space. It’s about how earthly cells and molecules react and change in the micro-gravity environment of space. The economic and social implications of that research could be huge.

For example, most medical research about how humans react to micro-gravity has been focused on preventing harm to astronauts. But space could have beneficial effects on cells that might lead to more effective treatments for various diseases and conditions. Research already is being conducted on the space station to see how micro-gravity changes bacteria, which could lead to more effective vaccines for dangerous salmonella and staph infections.

'What could the applications of all of this be? The answer is, we don’t know, which is the foundation for all science,' Kimel said. 'Many scientific breakthroughs come when you’re looking for something else.'

April 15, 2010

Incorporating launch and ground station footage, Kentucky Space students describe the "Frontier" mission that took place in late March from Wallops. Congratulations to all the team members on a successful mission!

April 08, 2010

Here is a terrific view from NASA television of the logistics module in Discovery's bay prior to being lifted out and attached to the International Space Station.

The hatch between the two was opened earlier this morning and supplies, including the NanoRacks platform and two CubeLabs, will soon be moved to their permanent places inside the station to begin work.

In brief presentations to the attendees at the first general session, Kris Kimel, president of the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation, which is the managing partner for Kentucky Space, described how breakthroughs in science bring wealth, not just jobs. For a state like Kentucky, which leans heavily on well known and traditional industries, supporting this kind of innovation is critically important. Locations with concentrations of technical and human capital attract talent and investment. It's a virtuous cycle.

Later in the day, Kentucky Space students Jason Bratcher and Samir Rawashdeh detailed the work being done in Kentucky Space to develop a particular kind of talent and unique technologies during an extended poster display by organizations and companies doing cutting edge work in the commonwealth. With the recent launches of Frontier-1 and Monday's Discovery flight playing on a looping video nearby, passersby, who work with nano-technologies, and in the medical and material sciences themselves, were sufficiently impressed and many lingered to chat. The words "Kentucky" and "Space" next to each other have a certain shock value. But given its emphasis on building small spacecraft doing low cost, high value science, given the recent successes in launching these Kentucky-built craft, given the potential for standardized research in "plug and play" micro-labs built by students in Kentucky and set to be delivered by the now-docked Discovery (video below), that unfamiliarity may not last. Long known for its product on grassy field and beneath eastern mountain, Kentucky, instead, could become a place where talented people choose to stay and find discovery overhead.

March 30, 2010

In an article Sunday, the Lexington Herald-Leader pointed out the success of "Frontier 1," Kentucky Space's suborbital mission over the weekend.

'This is really a significant accomplishment,' [president of the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation and managing partner of the nonprofit Kentucky Space consortium Kris] Kimel said. 'This spacecraft was built entirely by Kentucky students, and all systems worked perfectly.'

Frontier 1 was designed and built in Kentucky to test hardware and software systems that will be flown on an orbital satellite, KentuckySat 1, set to launch in November with NASA's Glory Mission...

'This exciting announcement shows that Kentucky is among the elite in innovation and scientific advancement,' Gov. Steve Beshear said.

March 26, 2010

Two cubesats developed by Kentucky Space and California students are scheduled for launch tomorrow, March 27 on a Terrier-Improved Malemute suborbital sounding rocket from the Wallops range in Virginia. The launch window is 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. EDT, and a live stream of the event starts at 9 a.m.

"ADAMASat" will test components that will be used on an orbital mission now slated for November. Ground stations in Kentucky will collect performance data from the craft during its brief stay in space.

For the latest, Kentucky Space and ADAMASat are on on Twitter @KySpace and @KySpaceADAMASat, respectively. Please follow.

March 22, 2010

For the UK College of Engineering Space Systems Laboratory, "SOCEM," which is now slated to fly this weekend, is just the beginning of a busy year. And in the article, "Space Science Mentor," the American Society for Engineering Education writes that Morehead State University's Dr. Ben Malphrus "lets students take on big tasks" as part of the university's space sciences program.

The picture above depicts the flight path of ADAMASat, one of two payloads on SOCEM. Ground stations in Kentucky will pick up data from the suborbital craft during its brief stay in space.

March 19, 2010

A new flight window for SOCEM has been confirmed for Saturday through Sunday, March 27 and 28.

"SOCEM," which stands for Sub-orbital Cubesat Experimental Mission,
is a test of the Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket and Cubesat
launcher that may open new opportunities in fast access to space. Video of a recent test ejection may be seen here:

Kentucky Space's ejected "ADAMASat" payload will test components that will fly on
orbital missions slated for later this year.